I had heard from a friend that ordering my contact lenses online would be less expensive and easier than going to my optometrist’s office.  Being a single mom, anything that could save me time and money was essential so I decided to give it a try.  Every time I went to reorder my contact lenses online, I felt that my vision was a little worse, so I would increase the prescription for the contact lenses by myself.  It seemed to be working quite well, and before I knew it, three and a half years had gone by. 

On and off, my vision would get a little blurry and my eyes would get red and irritated, but I just thought that I was tired, so I would take a break from wearing my contacts for a day or two, everything would be fine, and I would resume wearing them before this problem started again.  One morning, my eyes were so red and sore that I couldn’t put in my contacts.  I was extremely sensitive to light and my vision was very blurry.  I called my optometrist and she saw me that afternoon. 

She informed me that I had a ‘keratitis’, an inflammation of the cornea due to an infection in both my eyes.  It turns out that I had been wearing the same contacts for one to two months, when they were only meant to be worn for two weeks at a time.  I spoke to someone on the phone when I ordered my contacts online and they said that it was OK to do that.  My optometrist also told me that my own prescription adjustments were incorrect and that my contact lenses were too strong for me.  I was wondering why I was getting more headaches.  She prescribed eye drops to fight the infection and it took over three weeks before I could wear my contact lenses again.

I can tell you that I definitely learned my lesson.  Having an eye infection is not a fun experience.  I found out that buying contact lenses from my optometrist was comparable in price, but it also gave me the confidence that I was getting exactly what my eyes needed and the proper advice for prevention of problems before they happen.  It now also keeps me on track with regular eye exam visits which I just simply forgot about when I was busy.